Transmission Gully progress towards opening

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#2861855 4-Feb-2022 19:09

Spark's new battle hill cell site is emerging from the ground. Cleverly located across the road from a fibre feed phone cabinet. Will presumably fill the blackspot around battle hill, with the RCG cell site to the north covering the motorway south of Wainui saddle.

Looks like a somewhat temporary site but more permanent than a CoW- there are groundworks for mains power and fibre, but the base of the tower seems to have precast concrete weights instead of a subsurface foundation. Does this suggest that Spark expect a permanent solution to coverage on the motorway will come in future?

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#2861859 4-Feb-2022 19:24

I would have thought that the plan would be to install RCG towers instead so providers didn't have to each build their own - makes more sense.

This cell tower is https://gis.geek.nz/map/celltowers/location/eyqvzjew - "PAEKAKARIKI HILL ROAD TEMP" so may well be infill coverage until RCG. Seems like a strange one.

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MikeB4

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#2861919 5-Feb-2022 06:50

An interesting story here, "An expert transport engineer told Waka Kotahi the delay-plagued Transmission Gully motorway was safe to open to the public

https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/wellington/127689945/transmission-gully-expert-told-waka-kotahi-road-was-safe-to-open-in-december

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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#2861945 5-Feb-2022 09:07

There’s a big difference between safe and practical completion. Given the amount of money involved it would be mad to award PC without completing the contract.

MikeB4

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#2861948 5-Feb-2022 09:24

The engineering is done, it’s built and it’s ready. It is the mountain of red tape that’s holding the opening and holding the region to ransom. This is not just an inconvenience it is costing lives as the existing road is in very poor condition. It is impacting the regional economy especially with logistics with daily log jamb of trucks trying to get in and out of Te Whanganui-a-Tara.

If this were election year the Ministers and MPs would be all over this and the bureaucratic stupidity would be over.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

lchiu7

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#2862089 5-Feb-2022 12:06

MikeB4:

An interesting story here, "An expert transport engineer told Waka Kotahi the delay-plagued Transmission Gully motorway was safe to open to the public

https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/wellington/127689945/transmission-gully-expert-told-waka-kotahi-road-was-safe-to-open-in-december

For some reason that link didn't work but I had already read the link on Stuff. This is the part (if true) that is of concern

"With 59 of the 100 safety and assurance tests still incomplete, it appears unlikely Transmission Gully will be fully complete to the required legal standard until the later part of 2022.

However, both Waka Kotahi and the builder have indicated they are keen to get an early opening date established.

Insiders suggest Easter could be a likely target date.

An early opening would allow public traffic on to the road while work to complete some of the more minor required work continues."

I am sure we all hope it's before Easter and not the later part of 2022.

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CruciasNZ

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#2862160 5-Feb-2022 13:51

WK cannot afford the risk of opening it before all the red tape is concluded. The road has to be operated and maintained by the consortium for X years (I think 25), so if it opens before it is "ready" then the consortium can transfer some of the maintenance risk to WK. It sounds stupid, but it's a common tactic for the big American and European construction management mega-firms. National should have never allowed those companies to tender because of their reputation and actions overseas, but they did and now we're stuck on this path.

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#2862263 5-Feb-2022 17:06

MikeB4: The engineering is done, it’s built and it’s ready. It is the mountain of red tape that’s holding the opening and holding the region to ransom. This is not just an inconvenience it is costing lives as the existing road is in very poor condition. It is impacting the regional economy especially with logistics with daily log jamb of trucks trying to get in and out of Te Whanganui-a-Tara.

If this were election year the Ministers and MPs would be all over this and the bureaucratic stupidity would be over.

What bureaucratic stupidity? If the contractor could demonstrate practical completion it would be done.

This isn’t a couple of pages in a manual missing, it’s fundamental contractual requirements to demonstrate safety and durability.

If CPB get given PC they are gone. They don’t care if the road ever gets finished properly. They’ll leave a ton of latent defects behind that will never be fixed and then everyone will scream about the crap road and the operator will be off to court to claim against the government for handing over a defective road.

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#2862274 5-Feb-2022 17:51

CruciasNZ:

WK cannot afford the risk of opening it before all the red tape is concluded. The road has to be operated and maintained by the consortium for X years (I think 25), so if it opens before it is "ready" then the consortium can transfer some of the maintenance risk to WK. It sounds stupid, but it's a common tactic for the big American and European construction management mega-firms. National should have never allowed those companies to tender because of their reputation and actions overseas, but they did and now we're stuck on this path.

Yeah - the clickbait "an engineer says the bit he checked was fine" article, does include the incredibly salient point that:

"Under the PPP agreement, when the road is officially considered finished, it will be passed to Ventia – the company in charge of operating and maintaining the road for the next 25 years. That means any pothole repairs or other maintenance will be the financial responsibility of Ventia, not the taxpayer.
If Ventia showed Waka Kotahi had failed to identify a serious design flaw in the road, it could sue for damages and the cost of repairs."

So the Wellington Gateway Partnership won the contract to "build and maintain Transmission Gully", then chose to split that between two separate groups, and if WK don't pick up all the numerous mistakes that the first group made, then the second group can avoid having to fix them.

There's definitely huge financial advantages for the WGP to get people repeating the "It's just paperwork, why is Waka Kotahi stopping us from using our cool new road" line to pressure local politicians into rushing through the approval process.

(That's aside from the ridiculousness of the whole "I know we were paid to construct and maintain this road, but instead we're going to make the government pay to fix it because you didn't notice some bits we did really badly" thing.)

CruciasNZ

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#2862277 5-Feb-2022 18:20

tieke:

So the Wellington Gateway Partnership won the contract to "build and maintain Transmission Gully", then chose to split that between two separate groups, and if WK don't pick up all the numerous mistakes that the first group made, then the second group can avoid having to fix them.

There's definitely huge financial advantages for the WGP to get people repeating the "It's just paperwork, why is Waka Kotahi stopping us from using our cool new road" line to pressure local politicians into rushing through the approval process.

(That's aside from the ridiculousness of the whole "I know we were paid to construct and maintain this road, but instead we're going to make the government pay to fix it because you didn't notice some bits we did really badly" thing.)

Yeah it's a super cheeky strategy, and those of us in the industry could see it coming when the mega-corps got involved. The dollars that WK could be stung with if the road opens prematurely are tens to hundred million level, so they have to hold course. Really shit since the new road could have saved some of those lives

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#2862351 6-Feb-2022 08:20

CruciasNZ:
tieke:

So the Wellington Gateway Partnership won the contract to "build and maintain Transmission Gully", then chose to split that between two separate groups, and if WK don't pick up all the numerous mistakes that the first group made, then the second group can avoid having to fix them.

There's definitely huge financial advantages for the WGP to get people repeating the "It's just paperwork, why is Waka Kotahi stopping us from using our cool new road" line to pressure local politicians into rushing through the approval process.

(That's aside from the ridiculousness of the whole "I know we were paid to construct and maintain this road, but instead we're going to make the government pay to fix it because you didn't notice some bits we did really badly" thing.)

Yeah it's a super cheeky strategy, and those of us in the industry could see it coming when the mega-corps got involved. The dollars that WK could be stung with if the road opens prematurely are tens to hundred million level, so they have to hold course. Really shit since the new road could have saved some of those lives

This is big boy contracting. They got given a contract and it will play out according to the contract. CPB do not care what happens - they will administer their rights under the contact. It is what it is.

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MikeB4

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#2862404 6-Feb-2022 08:56

Handle9:

What bureaucratic stupidity? If the contractor could demonstrate practical completion it would be done.

This isn’t a couple of pages in a manual missing, it’s fundamental contractual requirements to demonstrate safety and durability.

If CPB get given PC they are gone. They don’t care if the road ever gets finished properly. They’ll leave a ton of latent defects behind that will never be fixed and then everyone will scream about the crap road and the operator will be off to court to claim against the government for handing over a defective road.

With respect you are not here and across this. The issue is a list of "paper work" consents that are held up in the GWRC. You are not experiencing kilometre of bumper to bumper traffic no barely moving daily for over two years. Then there are daily horrific accidents and deaths due to the appalling condition of the current main highway due to years of poor maintenance. The snails pace of GWRC sign off is costing the regions economy millions but the worse cost is human life and the dreadful impact on families.

Right now all access routes into Te Whanganui-a-tara are in a terrible state. SH1 from Levin south resembles a back country track riddled with potholes, the saddle from Palmerston North to the Hawkes Bay is barely fit for cars but huge transport rigs have no choice and have to use it. SH2 of the Remutaka Hill is a mess and often closed at night and large numbers of trucks are forced to travel over it and the road is not suitable.

All parties including the wastes of space occupying the Beehive need to get off their collective butts, do their jobs and get this open. When it is opened a very long list of people all the way up to the Minister of Transport need to lose their jobs.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

naggyman

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#2862409 6-Feb-2022 09:38

MikeB4:

With respect you are not here and across this. The issue is a list of "paper work" consents that are held up in the GWRC.

As per WGP / NZTA's updates it appears that there is work going on re-sealing parts of the road due to a poor seal that was already breaking. On top of that the stormwater system is not complete, so physical works are required for that as well.

So it is more than just 'paper work'.

If they opened the road now prepare for it to be shut quite a lot in the next 6 months for them to actually finish the road (or we just wait a few months for them to do it without traffic to interrupt)

Morgan French-Stagg

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#2862411 6-Feb-2022 09:45

MikeB4:
With respect you are not here and across this. The issue is a list of "paper work" consents that are held up in the GWRC. You are not experiencing kilometre of bumper to bumper traffic no barely moving daily for over two years. Then there are daily horrific accidents and deaths due to the appalling condition of the current main highway due to years of poor maintenance. The snails pace of GWRC sign off is costing the regions economy millions but the worse cost is human life and the dreadful impact on families.

Waka Kotahi's latest weekly update shows that the project has 41% completed safety and quality assurance tasks (ie towards practical completion) and 76% completed consenting tasks. CPB-HEB needs to satisfy consent conditions and demonstrate that to GWRC.

If GWRC gave every consent condition a rubber stamp tomorrow (irrespective of actual compliance), then the road would still be held up by woeful completion of safety and quality assurance tasks, AND the likes of Forest and Bird or Environmental Defence Society could take GWRC to court and likely win. There is plenty of scope for pragmatic decisions when applying for resource consent, but GWRC have a pretty limited discretion when assessing compliance with previously agreed consent conditions

MikeB4

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#2862415 6-Feb-2022 10:32

One of our clients is a Civil Engineering Company, don’t ask I won’t be naming. In a meeting they told us that the “engineering” short comings are a smoke screen. The road is finished, it has been affected by recent weather which is normal for any road. This project has been an shambles starting with the National Party original mistake, the incompetence has continued under the Labour government and has now been front lined by the GWRC. So the damage to life, limb and economy continues with this modern day interpretation of the Keystone Cops.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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